Program Gets High Marks

Alternative Schools Make The Grade With Parents

NEWPORT NEWS — When Karen Gray saw a reading assignment her first-grader had completed at Jenkins Elementary School, she knew that her two children weren't learning at the same pace.

"My daughter at Jenkins was doing the same thing as my kindergarten daughter at Dutrow," she said.

If one daughter excelled at Dutrow, Gray thought, perhaps the other daughter also would thrive. So Gray applied to have her oldest daughter attend Dutrow.

Gray is among hundreds of parents awaiting word on whether their children will be chosen for the few places in the city's five alternative schools.

Unlike neighborhood schools, whose population is determined by where students live, the alternative schools - Dutrow, Hilton, Magruder and Marshall elementary schools and Washington Middle School - draw many of their students from school zones throughout the city.

Children living in small zones near Washington, Hilton and Dutrow automatically are eligible to go to those schools. Siblings of students currently enrolled in the schools are given priority among applicants at Hilton and Dutrow. If Washington gets too many applications, it takes Hilton students first, then the brothers and sisters of students.

Students from the portion of the city south of Oyster Point can apply to Magruder. Students citywide can apply to Marshall. Because Marshall and Magruder are predominantly black and the city wants to enhance the racial balance, white applicants are given top priority. Siblings are the next group given priority.

The alternative schools also differ from neighborhood schools in their approach to education. Each takes a different tack. Dutrow, for example, has an open classroom environment that is designed to foster independence in children.

A majority of the city's alternative schools have more applications than available spots for children. Only Magruder and Marshall, which are for 5- to 7-year-old children, have room for all the children who want to attend the schools.

The parents of more than 300 students submitted applications for Hilton and Dutrow during April. Fewer than 70 of those students will be admitted to those schools.

Some parents want their children in those schools because they have been frustrated by a lack of parental involvement at other schools.

"At Sedgefield, I cannot get other parents to help me with anything," said Shari Fleck, who would like her daughter to join her sister at Hilton. "When I asked parents for 50 cents each for a birthday present for a teacher, about two of 32 responded." In contrast, she said, parents fill Hilton for all its events, from field days to fund-raisers.

Hilton Principal Carolyn S. Felling said one of the chief reasons parents choose the school is its strong record of parent participation. "The most effective schools are those with a high degree of parental involvement," she said.

About 600 parents are members of Dutrow's PTA, said Dutrow Principal Henry V. Schwarting. The school has about 620 students.

The parents also have been successful at raising money. Felling said parents were hoping to buy computers for every classroom at Hilton. Schwarting said schools had bought an assortment of books and learning games with parents' help.

Another attraction for parents is the alternative schools' different style of learning. "Hilton is a more structured program than Sedgefield," Fleck said. "My daughter at Sedgefield has more free time and more play time."

Gray said her daughter at Dutrow succeeds partially because of the school's open classroom situation, in which roughly 100 students work in a large room with four teachers at different paces. "You have to be able to work independently, and she is," Gray said.

Whatever the reason, students at the schools have been successful. Two of the top three standardized test score averages came from alternative schools. Dutrow had the highest of any elementary school in the city while Hilton placed third. Washington's scores were well above the division average for middle schools.

Parents anxious to learn whether their children will be admitted to the alternative schools will hear by the end of the month, said Mary Ellen Mitchell, a school administrative assistant.

For some the wait might seem longer than weeks. "I would like for my daughter to be able to go," said Gray. "I would be real disappointed if she doesn't."